Thursday, December 13, 2007 Police ‘close to’ solving murders of Japanese
THE team of investigators that is looking into the killings of two Japanese nationals in Mandaue City this year is “very, very close” to solving the cases, an official from Camp Crame said yesterday.
“The cases are already 95 percent solved,” Senior Insp. Reynaldo Magdaluyo of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Intelligence Division in Camp Crame told reporters.
Magdaluyo, who is also a Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) expert counterpart, together with four Japanese police investigators from Tokyo arrived in Cebu last Monday afternoon to help the local police in investigating the deaths of Japanese nationals Tara Suda and Hiroshi Kusaka.
Suda, 36, was shot dead in front of his rented house in Barangay Banilad last July 18, while 49-year-old Kusaka, a businessman, was shot and killed while the van he was riding stopped for a red light at the corner of G. Ouano and Plaridel Sts. in Barangay Cambaro last Nov. 13.
Magdaluyo was designated by the Japanese investigators to speak in their behalf for the media interview yesterday.
He said the Japanese investigators will help the joint team from the CIDG 7 and the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) in the technical aspect by analyzing the evidence and did the transcripts and translations of the text messages from Kusaka’s cellular phone.
“We are on the right track. We have the witnesses and maybe we can solve these cases very soon,” Magdaluyo said, adding that he cannot discuss the details of the information they have gathered as that might derail the investigation.
Apart from the technical aspect, Magdaluyo said the Japanese investigators were also able to get witnesses from Japan that are also vital in the resolution of the cases, particularly on Kusaka’s killing.
Magdaluyo and the Japanese investigators left Cebu at 3 p.m. yesterday.
CIDG 7 Intelligence and Investigation Chief Rex Derilo, in a separate interview, expressed disappointment over a “premature” news article about the extra-judicial confession of a potential witness against the perpetrators behind Kusaka and Suda’s killings.
“We have tried hard to keep the information within us, but here comes somebody who is eager to get a scoop and could spoil our efforts. It will make our job difficult,” he said.
He said the people named by the man, who is now under the custody of the CIDG 7, are not only involved in the killing of Suda but in at least five other major crimes in Cebu.
The police now have the .45 pistol used in Suda’s murder.
The firearm was submitted to the crime laboratory for ballistics and cross-matching examinations. (JST)
